STORY: From Cowl to Cowl (or alternative uses for projects you're going to frog)

by Lena Fedotova (ravliki)

One of my favorite exercises for boosting creativity is to find non-traditional ways of using standard things.

I remembered it when I got stuck with my hairpin cowl project and had to rip it again and again. I had a few problems with it, but the main one was that hairpin lace didn't hold its shape and turned into a ridiculous mess around my neck. It just didn't want to be a cowl. So I let it be a skirt!


Sometimes it takes awhile to remember that you are allowed to be creative, even a little bit crazy, and look for unusual solutions. That's why a project I started in 2012 was only finished in 2014.

I was crocheting the La Mar hat for myself and loved everything about it, especially the stitch pattern (no one thinks it's crochet!). I finished and sewed my hat very quickly, and the only thing left was to start wearing it. Or at least take a picture of it! And that took me almost two years.

I am not a hat person at all and I don't wear hats. It was wrong to think that having made a great hat I would start wearing them (and look beautiful in them). Of course not! So, what do I do? One day, having been bitten by a creativity bug, I removed the seam on the top of the hat and pulled it down. Just look at it now! Isn't it a great cowl?!

So, if you are not satisfied with your project, try to find an alternate use for it. It works!

Be creative and happy stitches to you all! :)

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Designs shown: 
La Mar Hat by Yuliya Tkacheva
Ocean Samba Skirt by Lena Fedotova

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